DENVER, March 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Business intelligence from Akerna shows that Wednesday, March 17, St Patrick’s Day and the day that most qualifying Americans received their $1,400 stimulus checks was by far the largest cannabis sales day of the year, with over $89,000,000 in sales, 50% higher (1.5X) than previous Wednesdays this year.

“Historically, our data hasn’t shown any large spikes or changes around St. Patrick’s Day, but with the U.S. stimulus checks landing on the same day in 2021, we saw huge spikes in spending and huge profit opportunities for dispensaries,” says James Ahrendt, BI Architect at Akerna. “On top of the large numbers, our data shows that flower continues to be the top purchased product, and the female consumer group continues to grow. With 420 just around the corner, businesses should consider data insights, like these from MJ Platform, to best prepare for yet another profitable day in the cannabis industry.”

The following days also saw elevated sales, with Thursday, March 18th having a 23% increase over prior Thursdays and Friday, March 19th having an 8% increase over previous. From Wednesday to Friday, the cannabis sales total was over $230,000,000 nationally. 

In addition, average order size grew in those three days, with medical purchases up 20% and averaging $147.99, and recreational purchasing up 16% at an average of $85.67.

Additional Insights

Other takeaways from the 3-day span (3/17 – 3/19):

1.       Category sales:
     a.       Flower – 45%
     b.      Cartridge/Pens – 32%
     c.       Concentrates – 13%
     d.      Infused Edibles – 8%
     e.      Other – 2%
2.       Demographics: 60.2% male, and 39.8% female sales
3.       Sales by age groups: which was led by the 30-40-year-old age group
     f.        30-40 –31%
     g.       Under 30 – 28%
     h.      40-50 – 20%
     i.         50-60 –12%
     j.        Over 60 – 9%

For more information, visit https://www.akerna.com/.